Sonny had done what few Egyptians could manage: He had escaped Egypt. After growing up poor, he had become a mechanic, run a successful business, met a Japanese woman, and emigrated to Japan. He had only now braved a return trip to Egypt to visit family and friends.

Sonny invited me for dinner at his family home in Dar al-Salam. It was Easter.

At dinner, Sonny talked about growing up in Dar al-Salam and living next door to one of the most powerful organized crime families in the area. Some of these family members would end up being our guides through the neighborhood. Without their approval, I was told, my excursion and photography would not have been possible.